Templates

A template is a reusable break preset for OptiView Ads. It stores a break configuration once so you can schedule consistent breaks quickly, either manually from the dashboard and API or automatically through marker rules.

Template identity

Every template has an id that is unique within your organization. The id is optional when creating a template: if you omit it, OptiView Ads generates one for you. When you supply your own, we recommend using a UUID. For a human-readable label, use the name property instead — it is shown in the dashboard.

What a template contains

A template holds the same configuration as a break: anything you can express on a break you can preset on a template. See Break configuration for the full description of variant, resumeOffset, and controls.

A few properties differ from a break:

Property	Difference
name	A human-readable display name for the template, shown in the dashboard.
duration	Optional on a template (it is required on a break). When set, it is the default duration for breaks scheduled from the template.
channelIds	Channels the template is linked to, so it is surfaced when scheduling breaks on those channels.
eventIds	Events the template is linked to.
start	A template has no start: a template is not scheduled itself. The start is supplied when a break is scheduled from the template.

Snapshot semantics

A template is a preset, not a live link. When a break is scheduled from a template:

1. The template's configuration is copied onto the new break at creation.
2. The break records the source templateId as provenance.
3. There is no synchronization afterwards. Editing or deleting the template later does not change breaks that were already created from it — they keep their copied configuration.

Scheduling a break from a template

Templates are used throughout the system to schedule breaks:

• API — create a break on a channel and reference the template with templateId. The template configuration is snapshotted onto the break at creation.
• Dashboard — use the Schedule now action on a template to create a break on the channel immediately.
• Marker rules — when an in-stream ad marker is matched against a marker rule, a break is scheduled from the template that the rule references.

An API example:

curl -X POST 'https://us.ads.optiview.dolby.com/api/v1/channels/1f7f3a5a-9c2e-4a56-b1d4-3f8a2c9d6e01/breaks' \
  -u "$ADS_API_KEY:$ADS_API_SECRET" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-Org-ID: org_123' \
  -d '{
    "templateId": "3b8e5f0a-7c2d-4e91-a6b3-9d4f1c8e2a70",
    "start": "2026-07-16T13:00:00.000Z"
  }'

templateId is the only required field. You can override the snapshotted configuration per break with optional fields — start, duration, variant, eventId, and id. For templates that contain vendor assets, you can additionally pass assetParameters (a string map) with the request; these are merged into the vendor assets of the snapshot, and on duplicate keys the values you provide win.

Start semantics depend on the channel timebase; see Timebase-based scheduling.

Related resources

Resource	Relationship
Channels	Breaks scheduled from a template are created on a channel.
Breaks	The result of scheduling a template: a break with the template's snapshotted content.
Events	An event on your channel for which you want to prepare breaks.
Break detection	Configure marker rules to turn ad markers in your stream into breaks.